riestly selfishness; it was a matter of course that his reputation,
the reputation of a priest, of his office, of the church must be
guarded above all, and this place was the easiest for him to get at.
How deeply sunk in degradation was he, when he could call to mind at
that moment without horror, a statement made by Pigavetta on the
probable opinion of a learned teacher, that a monk was justified in
murdering his mistress, if by so doing he could prevent the greater
crime, namely the loss of reputation entailed on the cloister.

"I know she will come," he said to himself, "she cannot help it.
Otherwise she would not be the bewitched maiden," and he smiled
contentedly. Suddenly his eye fell upon the mirror of remembrance,
which the Abbess had ordered to be taken back from the Church to his
room, and the recollection of Father Aloysius came up before him. It
compelled him as if drawn by unseen hands even in this his hour of
temptation to look through the round glass. Feverish, burning with
passion, with dark-rimmed eyes, and open sensuous month, did the face
under the hood appear to him. He recognized the portrait of a broken
down monk, against whom Father Aloysius had once warned him in Speyer,
when giving him this curious memento. "My Son," had the worthy father
said to him, "thou goest out in the world as a laic. Look from time to
time into this glass, see that the expression of thy soul shows itself
in thy features as befitting the garb to which thou art sworn." For a
moment Paul was startled at his own appearance. But passion had
subjugated every better feeling in him; with an oath he rushed at the
casket and felled it to the ground. Glass and mirror lay in pieces
before him. Hastily did he gather up the whole and shoved the shapeless
bundle in a corner. He felt as if freed from some horrible goblin, and
he hummed a popular air which he had lately heard. When our sinful
resolves have reached a certain point, they seem to replace at times
for a moment the quiet of an easy conscience. Feeling certain of
success the Magister slept calmly and soundly for the first time for
many weeks; but when he woke fresh and clear the following morning, his
action of the previous day presented a totally different appearance.
The fragments of the broken casket gazed reproachfully at him. The
mirror of remembrance never answered its purpose better than now when
lying in fragments before him. Sad and down cast Paul began to prepare
hims